Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Turismo
(
271 811 147;
www.cm-trancoso.pt/turismo
;
9am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm Mon-Fri, to 5pm Sat, to
4.30pm Sun Oct-May, 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-6pm daily Jun-Sep)
Getting There & Away
BUS
From Trancoso's
bus station
(Av Calouste Gulbenkian)
, just northwest of the walled town,
Rede Ex-
pressos
(
www.rede-expressos.pt
)
has services to Viseu (€6.80, 70 minutes, two to three daily),
with connections via Celorico da Beira to Guarda (€8.90, 1¼ to 1¾ hours, daily).
TRAIN
The closest train station is at Celorico da Beira, 15km to the south.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Almeida
POP 1500 / ELEV 760M
After Portugal regained independence from Spain in the 1640s, the country's border re-
gions were on constant high alert. Almeida, along with Elvas and Valença do Minho, be-
came a principal defence against Spanish incursions. Almeida's vast, star-shaped fortress
- completed in 1641 on the site of its medieval predecessor, 15km from Spain - is the
least famous but the most handsome of the three.
When its military functions were largely suspended in 1927, Almeida settled into
weedy obscurity. Nowadays, the fortified old village - designated as a national monument
and recently scrubbed up for tourism - is a place of great charm: the town may have the
disquieting calm of a museum, but it also has enough history and muscular grandeur to set
the imagination humming.
Sights
The
fortress
is on the northern side of 'new' Almeida. Most visitors arrive via the hand-
some
Portas de São Francisco
, two long tunnel-gates separated by an enormous dry moat.
The long arcaded building just inside the Portas de São Francisco is the 18th-century
Quartel das Esquadras
, the former infantry barracks. Make sure you also see the attractive
Picadero d'el Rey
, once the artillery headquarters, now a stable and riding school. Near this,
the fort's
castle
was blown to smithereens during a French siege in 1810, when Britain's
